


Augury

by Lucifra



Series: One Insurgent Butterfree Flaps its Wings [5]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Fan Games, Pokemon: Insurgence
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Psychics/Psionics, BAMF Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Canon-Typical Violence, In more ways than one, Kinda, OC also has a bad leg, OC is psychic, Perfection cult, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon Trainers, Pokemon cults, Psychic Abilities, Self-Insert, and ash is a consummate badass here, but a whole lot is gonna be explained in my next fic, but this is consistent with the rest of this series, he's not actually there on screen, i just got a little carried away, i mean come on he's fought in 8 pokemon leagues at this point, i mean the protagonist is an SI but she's kinda a canon character, if you call a literal pokemon league champion a bad battler, oop i got off topic again, sorry for the rant y'all, sorta - Freeform, which again isn't explicitly stated in the story, which is my first multichapter offering that i'm publishing, you might need to learn some critical thinking skills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25044646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifra/pseuds/Lucifra
Summary: Amber picks through the rubble of Perfection’s old Torren Headquarters and encounters things long thought buried.
Relationships: Kamex | Blastoise & OC, Mew (Pokemon) & OC, Mewtwo & OC, Nora (Pokémon: Insurgence) & OC, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & OC
Series: One Insurgent Butterfree Flaps its Wings [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753819
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Augury

**Author's Note:**

> The art of augury was a method of telling the future based on bird movements.
> 
> Okay, so I know Amber isn’t exactly a canon character. But there are some canon grounds for her existence across the media. Originally, this Amber was Ambertwo from Mewtwo’s incubation period. However, she survived where the canon one didn’t. This is because of a few reasons, but I’m only going to have one explicitly come up in this story. In the Pokémon Adventures Manga, Mewtwo was created by combining human genetic material (from Blaine) with that of Mew. Since in this world that kind of genetic chimera is stable enough to survive thanks to Mewtwo’s psychic power, it stands to reason that a similar chimera would serve to exist where it’s primarily human with some Pokémon traits, which is what Amber maintains happened. Amber got some psychic power out of the deal, but also got saddled with some health problems, as did Mewtwo. I’m working on Amber’s full backstory now, but it’s a long one that involves the events of Pokémon Insurgence. I’ll have more information about that one at the end of this story.
> 
> Italics, with the exception of when they’re used to denote a letter, indicate psychic communication.

_ Amber, _

_ We weren’t sure if you’d heard yet, but Perfection is back on the move. Seeing as how you’re the one with the most experience dealing with them, we figured you might be able to look at some of their old facilities, maybe track them down from there. _

_ Sorry for springing this on you with such short notice, it’s been a hectic few weeks since Professor Oak had his first confrontation with Taen. _

_ Good luck out there, _

_ Ash. _

After reading the note for the umpteenth time, Amber put it down on her desk, then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Thoughts, Mewtwo?” she asked.

_ I believe that the suggestion has merit. Taen was never the most thorough of men, he certainly could have left something behind that we could make use of. _ The hovering Psychic type lowered himself gingerly onto his feet.  _ I feel we could at least gain some insight on the projects they were working on in their spare time. _

_ I agree! _ Mew burst out of their Pokéball too, ready to add their two cents.  _ Besides, it’s not as if there’s anything there that can really threaten us! _

Amber looked at Mew for a long moment, then sighed, picking up paper and pencil. “Fine, but if Murphy takes his due, I will say I told you so.”

Mewtwo chuckled as Mew pouted.  _ Fine. But I get to tell everyone else to get ready! _ Mew perked right back up.

Amber laughed, waving a hand. “Alright, you little rascal. We’ll be going tomorrow so I have time to let Ash know what, exactly, is going to happen.”

_ Wheee! _ Mew took a turn around the room, then vanished in a flash of pink light.

“Never grow up.” Amber reached out, then a pencil and a sheet of paper flew into her hands, which she promptly put down on the surface of her desk. “You know, you don’t have to stay and watch me to make sure I’m not going to keel over. I’m even sitting down!”

_ I am aware of that fact. That does not stop us from worrying about you, Amber. _ Mewtwo settled down in the custom built chair that Amber had for him along the back wall of her room.

Amber smiled. “Thank you, Mewtwo.” Then, she set to writing a letter to Ash, and by extension, the rest of the Pokémon League International.

_ Hey, Ash. _

_ Thanks for letting me know about Perfection. They’re staying away from Torren as far as we can tell, so we hadn’t heard much more than rumors. We’re going to check out their old headquarters under Helios City, see if they might have left anything there. _

_ If you can put together some reports about their reported actions and combat potential, we might be able to work out both their plans and a solid way to counter them. _

_ Much as I hate to say it, I’m not sure if this is something the League can deal with on their own. It took months to deal with everything Reukra had set up over here, and he had unfettered access to this Arceus for a fair bit, so who knows what kind of nasty mods he had made to the fabric of reality. _

_ As soon as I’m confident that there’s nothing else to learn from their old facilities, I’m coming to Pallet Town to help. _

_ See y’all soon, _

_ Amber. _

It was more than time that she began taking action once again.

* * *

Amber lightly touched down, then began trekking forward, staff clomping with every other step, into the steel-walled corridors of Perfection’s facility. In her other hand, she held a flashlight, which she was using to make sure she didn’t trip over any debris or Pokémon, although there were few that would attack with Mewtwo floating along just behind her.

As she limped to the door, a man walked out of the door, did a double take when he saw her, then turned back and sprinted inside.

“Do you know what that’s about?” Amber asked, frowning.

_ I do not, but it does seem like something to be wary of. _ Mewtwo bobbed lower, flexing his fingers in preparation for battle.

A moment later, three men all rushed out, Poké balls flying from their hands to release a Delta Arcanine, a Houndoom, and a Mightyena. “Stop where you are! This is an area under investigation by the International Police!”

Amber’s eyebrows shot up almost far enough to touch the wisps of teal hair hanging down from the front of her head. “Do you… do you not recognize the staff? Or me?”

“We have orders from the Augur not to let anyone through!” Amber stepped back, confused.

“You mean orders from me?” By the looks on their faces, she could tell that wasn’t the case.

“Ah, crap. Reukra’s gonna be pissed. Well, Crunch!” The man in the middle interrupted himself with an order to his Pokémon, which was promptly obeyed by all three Pokémon.

Amber threw herself back, then she telekinetically yanked herself up beyond their reach. She dropped a Poké Ball as she rose, calling forth Delta Blastoise. “Aura Sphere, both of you!” she ordered.

Mewtwo rose up, throwing out both arms and summoning a condensed ball of Aura from each one, then sent them forth to strike the Arcanine and the Houndoom.

Blastoise chose to take a more direct approach, blurring forward and hoisting the Mightyena into the air by the throat and then slamming a massive orb of power up into its ribs, blasting it out of her grasp to slam into the ceiling.

All three canine Pokémon were unconscious before they hit the ground.

“Any other bright moves you want to make before I get the actual International Police here?” Amber settled to the ground behind the menacing Pokémon after pulling out her phone.

The three men raised their hands, and, in unison, said “We surrender!”

“Smart move.”

* * *

Once the International Police had arrived to remove the toughs and their Pokémon, Amber walked forward into the base.

She clacked her staff against a crate, then sighed and moved on. “Didn’t think I’d end up back here.”

_ Why not? _ asked Mewtwo.

“I dunno, it’s just… After Reukra left, he said he was going to join Team Rocket. We never thought he’d rebuild his organization, or that I’d need to dig up his old digs.” Amber shrugged.

_ We often must confront the demons of our past in order to move forward. _ Mewtwo closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head.  _ I cannot hear any other thoughts in the building. _

“That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to find.” Amber jerked her chin up, indicating the chamber that Taen and Reukra had used to grow their Mewtwos. “There might be something on the computer that ran that gestation chamber.”

The two rushed over to the machine, and Amber wrapped her arm around her staff to tap at the keyboard. She pressed the spacebar, then again, then noticed the massive crack that split the screen.

She looked at the machine with fresh eyes, then slumped against her staff. “Looks like someone took a sledgehammer to it. I don’t think we’re gonna get anything out of this.”

Mewtwo turned, looking around to see if there was anything else he could see on this level that might have held data they could use.

“Come on, Mewtwo. I saw some books in the rooms up the stairs last time I was here, let’s see if we can get our hands on them.” Amber pushed herself upright, then started climbing the stairs.

As the first door came into view, Amber felt her heart quicken. It was ajar, and she could see book covers on the floor.

She quickened her pace, clomping up the stairs and bursting through the door, then all but collapsing in the middle of the books, grabbing one at random and opening it. Inside was notes on genetically altering Pokémon in order to create Delta Pokémon, as well as a dull gray key which fell into her lap.

_ Amber! _ Mewtwo appeared in the doorway in a panic, then lifted her up gently.  _ Are you okay? _

“Huh? Oh, right. Yeah, I’m fine. I just found us a lead.” She waggled the key. “Can you use psychometry to teleport to the lock this key opens?”

Mewtwo leaned down, touching the key for a moment, then nodded.  _ I can, although I can’t say that the destination would be safe without going through personally. I cannot use Future Sight while charging a teleport without having been there before. _

Amber nodded. “I wasn’t planning on going until we had gone through all of these journals.”

_ Good. You do have a tendency to rush in. _

“Hey!” Amber paused for a moment, then looked down at her feet, hovering a few inches above the floor. “Mewtwo, would you please let me down?”

After a moment, Amber was lowered back to the floor, where she sat down and picked up the journal that had fallen when Mewtwo had picked her up. “Thank you, Mewtwo.” She withdrew her Box Link from her bag, then tapped on its screen a few times. She deftly caught the Poké Ball that it dropped, then clicked it open, sending out a Delta Ludicolo.

“Alright, we’re gonna have to form a brain trust so we can go through these notebooks quickly so we can get to the secondary location soon.” Then she realized what she said and then huffed out a laugh. “Right, let’s get started.”

* * *

Amber flipped the last notebook closed, then stretched, coming down from her stretch with her staff in hand.  _ Alright, you two. I think we’re about ready to go, now. _

After a moment, Amber felt the other two Pokémon’s minds withdraw from her own, leaving the combined knowledge that the books contained. “Good work, Elminster. I’m gonna send you to take a rest.” She recalled him into his Poké Ball, then tapped it to the Box Link, sending him back to Professor Sylvan’s lab.

_ Are you prepared? _ asked Mewtwo.

Amber held up a finger before thumbing the button of the Ultra Ball on her belt and releasing Mew. “Mew, would you mind too terribly using your Future Sight to make sure when Mewtwo teleports us we don’t end up somewhere too terribly dangerous?”

_ Sure! Where are we going? _

“We’re not quite sure yet. It’s a lab somewhere around Metchi Town. We have a link to the destination but we don’t know what’s on the other end,” Amber said.

Mewtwo surrounded the trio in an aura of his psychic power, and then closed his eyes, pressing one hand to the key in Amber’s left hand.  _ Transitioning in three, two… _

Mew’s eyes flared with a bright blue light, then it blinked and nodded.  _ Go ahead! _

_ …one, now. _

The Augur and her two companions appeared half an inch above the ground in a grassy area near a large flowerbed, floating on Mewtwo’s power. He let Amber down gently, allowing her to plant her staff first, then Mew took control of its own flight, doing a loop in the air.

In front of them was a building that was almost impressive in its unimpressiveness, with its slate gray walls almost matching the shade of the corridors in Perfection’s Helios City base, albeit with more windows.

In the center was a door made of what looked like glass with a metal frame, and a lock matching both the color of the frame and the key Amber had in her hand.

“Well, here goes nothing.” She slotted the key into the lock and turned it, then pushed the door open.

While the ceiling lights were off, the windows provided more than enough light for Amber and her Pokémon to see the interior of the building. There was a thick layer of dust on the plastic plants.

Immediately the three were assaulted by the familiar stench of toxic waste. Scrunching up its eyes, Mew raced forward to see the source of the rancid odor, then transformed into a Shaymin and let off a burst of energy, cleansing the air and causing the glowing pool of green sludge to shimmer for a moment before turning into pure water.

“Thanks, Mew.” The three of them continued forward, floating above the water, to the bend in the corridor, which led to the pool of water that turned out to have flooded the corridor around the next bend as well.

In the room that had once appeared to be a security station in front of the flooded area, there were four computers. The two closer to the door described Perfection’s experiments, with one containing notes about the creation of the first Delta Pokemon-a Dark/Poison Larvesta, from their data-and the other described the discovery of the weather condition that Amber recognized as New Moon. One of the other two computers had been infected with a virus of some sort and had frozen, but the last one provided a security video of a scientist unlocking a gate made of spikes protruding from the floor that he subsequently walked through, passing a set of armor built not for a human but for a bipedal Pokémon of some kind. Mewtwo quickly memorized how he’d pressed a series of buttons, and then tried to navigate away to no avail.

“Leave it, Mewtwo. Looks like it’s a devoted security station, there’s not much point in looking for anything else there.” Amber turned back towards the door. “Come on, you two. The sooner we get through the security and see about getting data, the sooner we can get out, and I don’t like the vibe of this place.”

* * *

Amber snapped the book closed. “Okay, I figured it out. The password to the sanctum area is ‘antilithium’.”

_ Truly. What could ever possess someone to create such a silly word? _ snarked Mewtwo.

“Oh, right. You wouldn’t know.” Amber pulled out her phone, then activated the digital assistant. “Remind me to tell Mewtwo and Mew about antimatter tomorrow.”

After confirmation that the reminder had been created, she clicked off the screen and slipped the device back into her pocket. “Alrighty then. Let’s go see what all this jazz is about.”

_ I fail to see what jazz has to do with security. _ Mewtwo winked, then, with a minor effort of will, warped them back to the door console that had prompted them for a password.

After tapping away at the screen, the door gave way to an unlit room. Even when Mewtwo raised his hand and created a ball of light, they still couldn’t see more than five feet from themselves.  _ This doesn’t feel right. _

“You made incredibly good time.”

Immediately all three psychics snapped into a combat stance, building up coronae of power to attack or defend, as the situation called for.

“Honestly, Amber. If I was going to attack you, I wouldn’t have announced my presence.” This time, she recognized the voice. While she hadn’t heard it in a significant amount of time, the occasions on which she had heard it were rather memorable.

“What are you doing here, Reukra?” Her voice was flat, hard, and heavy with barely leashed violence.

“I wanted to see whether you’d follow the trail, child. After all, this game is significantly less fun without an opponent.” With that, the shadows receded to show the fedora-sporting form of the leader of Perfection, Taen’s boss, and ex-Champion, Reukra.

“Not good enough. There’s something else.”

Reukra inclined his head to her. “That there is, as you’re so impatient to find out.” He gestured, and the darkness retreated, revealing that they were standing on a regulation-compliant battle arena. Behind him floated the armored form of a Delta Volcarona. “It is my intent to test you and see if you’re strong enough to be a worthy adversary.”

“So what, I beat your team up and then you teleport away like Taen?” Amber slid one foot back, preparing to lunge.

“Oh, nothing so pedestrian.” He waved at the Delta floating behind him. “This Volcarona is still wild. If you can subdue it and capture it, then I will acknowledge your strength.” He turned, withdrawing a red-and-white Poké Ball from within his jacket. “I wish you luck.” He threw the Poké Ball, releasing a Palkia, then vanished in a swirl of spatial distortion.

As if Reukra’s presence was preventing it from moving, the Delta burst forward, sending a lance of raw blackness towards the psychic trio.

Mewtwo broke left, Mew darted to the right, and Amber forced her body to rise upward and away from the blast.  _ Mew! There was a set of armor inside, near that gate we had to use the weird colored switches for! I’d bet that’s sized for Mewtwo! We’ll keep him busy, you go find it! _

_ Right! _ Mew teleported away, leaving just Amber and Mewtwo facing the Volcarona.

Amber quickly rectified this, sending out Blastoise, who landed heavily on the ground. “Stay mobile, start blasting!”

Then, she couldn’t spare the attention it would take to issue further commands to either Blastoise or Mewtwo in between dodging blasts of darkness or poison and countering with psychic blasts after locking onto the Delta with Miracle Eye.

“Really wishing I’d gone to Tandor to pick up a Nuclear-type about now,” she muttered as she deflected a stream of venomous liquid.

Eventually, Mew flashed back, appearing in a shadow cast by a tree, burdened by the Mewtwo armor.  _ Mewtwo, I have the armor! Come grab it! _

The Psychic type did just that, leaving a parting Aura Sphere to slam into the armor and drive the Dark/Poison Delta back, throwing its rhythm off. Unfortunately, it quickly recovered, and without Mewtwo occupying its attention, it was more able to focus on Amber and Blastoise, putting them firmly on the defensive.

Her dodges got closer, her strikes slowed, and a noticeable sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead as she burned through her stamina. “Wow, I’m out of practice,” she said to herself.

In the break between another volley of attacks, Amber reached into her bag, scrabbling around for a Sitrus berry to stave off the tiredness she felt weighing her down like an old school backpack stuffed with textbooks while preparing a burst of raw psychic power with her other hand.

Just as she released the blast, her hand brushed against a flat, smooth surface, and she felt a jolt of something flow through her, and the attack compressed significantly, shooting forward like an Extremespeed and blasting the helmet off of the now extremely surprised Delta.

This moment of surprise lasted longer for Amber than for the Delta, who lashed out with a wave of raw darkness that slammed her into the building, then another that slammed her already-falling form into the ground, causing pain to shoot up her spine as her legs reported severe damage.

It floated closer, gathering a ball of dark energy in front of its eyes and chittering in anticipation of dealing with the flying thing that kept hurting it.

It did not expect the metal-covered projectile that slammed it aside.

Focusing his power through the suit of armor he was now wearing, Mewtwo gathered an overcharged Psystrike between his hands.  _ It’s over. _

The explosion that resulted could have been seen from Metchi Town proper, and sent the Volcarona flying through several trees before it crashed to a stop, unmoving.

_ Amber, are you okay? _ Mewtwo rushed over, hovering over the fallen woman.

“Ow.” Amber pushed herself up into a sitting position, then looked down at her legs, which both had decidedly more bends than they should. “Gimme a sec.”

She closed her eyes, then muttered a few words and her legs straightened out. After another repetition, she pushed herself to her feet, then held out her hand, calling her staff from where it had fallen after she had been blasted into the wall. “Good enough.”

She dug around in her bag, then pulled out a Delta Ball and started clomping along into the forest, leaning more heavily on her staff than she had that morning.

_ Where are you going? By all rights, we should be going to a doctor! _ Mewtwo started after her.

“We need to catch that Volcarona.” She continued forward, picking the Volcarona’s helmet up psychically on her way to the Delta. After a moment, Mewtwo sighed and floated forward, followed closely by Mew.

While the fallen Delta was still conscious by the time they arrived, it was only barely, and it couldn’t even muster the strength to use Levitate. The Delta Ball stilled quickly after drawing it in.

“Alright, Mewtwo. I think it’s time we called in Looker, see if he could get any information out of this place.” She yawned. “Once that happens I think I’m going home to sleep.”

* * *

Amber slept for the entire next day.

By the time she got up, Looker had already compiled a dossier with data extracted from both the abandoned lab and the Helios City Base and sent it to her, which she began perusing after getting up. Apparently, he had found an extendable blade with a complex crossguard that sounded very much familiar to her.

At about midmorning, she was interrupted by a knocking on her door. Closing her computer, she pushed herself up, then walked over to the door, pulling it open to reveal Nora.

“Nora! Hi! What’s going on?”

The green-haired girl raised a letter that she was holding in her left hand. “Cynthia gave me this to give you.”

Amber took it, then gestured to the couch. “Come in, come in. Do you want something to drink?”

“Oh, um, just water.” Amber opened a cupboard in the kitchen and took a glass out, then filled it with water from a pitcher on the counter.

After bringing the glass to Nora, Amber absently slit the envelope open, pulling the letter out. “So, how have you been? I know it’s been a while.”

“Oh, fine.” She shrugged. “Cynthia’s a tough teacher, but she is a good one.”

“That’s good. I’m glad you're…” Amber trailed off, eyes firmly fixed on the letter. “Oh, fuck all kinds of duck.”

“Amber!” snapped Nora, frowning. “What about the kids that read this?”

Amber waved her off. “This is PG-13 equivalent, we get one F-bomb and I’m dropping that now. Besides,” Amber pulled out Mewtwo’s Poké Ball, then released him, “We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

_ What is it, Amber? _ asked Mewtwo, frowning.

“Charon’s been broken out of prison.” At the blank look from Mewtwo, Amber continued. “He’s a scientist from Team Galactic. He’s the one who figured out how to make the Red Chains that were involved in the events with the Creation Trio leading to their capture.”

Mewtwo’s eyes went wide.  _ And Reukra has Palkia. _

“And Reukra has Palkia.” Amber sat down hard across from Nora. “Hoo boy. This is gonna get nasty.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Nora.

Amber closed her eyes for a moment, then stood up, calling her staff to her from where it had fallen after she had sat down, and started towards her computer. “In the short term, I need to send an email to Ash. But in terms of bigger steps?” Amber turned back to Nora and gave her a lopsided grin. “I think it’s about time I got Adam back.”

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, hope y’all enjoyed.
> 
> Alright, so onto the topic of the next fic. Delta, as I’ve decided to call it, is going to follow the events of Pokémon Insurgence, more or less. It’s gonna start pre-canon and things are going to diverge, probably, so be ready for that. In terms of publishing it…
> 
> Well, I’ve already got the first two chapters mostly drafted, and I’ll be sending at least the first one to my beta readers around the day this fic goes up. My current plan is to publish the first chapter either next week or the week after on Friday, then update the story every other week. This might change depending on how long it ends up taking me to write chapters, but if anything changes I’ll be sure to let y’all know.
> 
> I might take a break from that at some point to write out the story of how Ash and Amber got Adam back from the Dream Realm, but that’s not coming in the immediate future.
> 
> Feel free to leave me an ask over on tumblr! https://lucifra-writes.tumblr.com/


End file.
